Lee Children's council backers still one commission vote shy of sending issue to voters

Supporters of a half-cent property tax that would be dedicated to children's services in Lee County continue their struggle to get county commissioners to put the issue before the public for the November election.

More: v

On Tuesday, members of an interfaith group held a prayer meeting in front of the Old County Courthouse as part of an effort to get the referendum question on the ballot.

More: LIFE supports Children's Services Council: Your say

More: Lee County voters could decide on starting children's council with taxing power

Members of Lee Interfaith for Empowerment, consisting of members of 13 religious congregations, presented county commission staff with postcards signed by members of religious congregations in support of the referendum question.

"We pray that as we send these postcards that they are a symbol of the prayers, the desires and wishes, and the demands, prayers of hundreds of people who care about the children and families of our community," said the Rev. Rusty May, pastor of Messiah Lutheran Church of Cape Coral.

Supporters of the children's council admit they are a vote short of the required support of three commissioners to put the issue on the ballot.

The half-cent added to the tax rate would come to $100 on a $200,000 home, before exemptions. A homeowner with $50,000 in exemptions would pay $75.

"What we need the community at large to understand is that we need one more commissioner to agree to put it on the ballot, Commissioner (Frank) Mann has agreed, publicly; Commissioner (John) Manning has agreed, publicly," said Abdul'Haq Muhammed, executive director of the Quality Life Center in Fort Myers.

A Children's Services Council in Lee County would raise up to $30 million for programs designed to benefit young people. Pennies for Community Progress has been the driving force to create the council. It is not affiliated with the LIFE group.

More: Children's Services Council: the need is there

More: Public meeting on Children's Services Council

County Commissioner Brian Hamman won't vote to put the issue on the ballot and said supporters would be better off communicating one on one with voters.

"I have tried to persuade them that if they want to get their message heard they need to get buy-in from the community," Hamman said Tuesday. " I advised them to petition to place it on the ballot;the signers would have buy-in on the question."

Commissioner Cecil Pendergrass also opposes a quick route to the ballot, saying he doesn't see the need for the new agency.

"We provide human services throughout Lee County, we do a great job, we need to improve it," Pendergrass said. "I don't see the duplication of creating more services so they can make money off of it."

Pendergrass also said that he found the approach by some advocates to be threatening.

Getting on the ballot by collecting signatures is "not a necessary process in the state of Florida," Muhammed said. "Numerous people have approached them, and they have found the same answers as we have heard thus far, and that is that (Commissioner Larry) Kiker has not decided one way or the other, he has not agreed up until this point" to put the issue on the ballot. 

"All we're saying is let the voters make that decision, it does not mean that they're endorsing it or supporting it," Muhammed said. 

The Pennies for Progress movement has been working for months to get three members of the commission to support letting voters decide the question. 

Muhammed and others who support the creation of a children's council say it will allow additional resources to be used to make sure young people get off to the right start in life that will allow them to be productive members of society.

Lee Interfaith for Empowerment plans a bigger rally at St. Columbkille Church in south Fort Myers next Tuesday.